5 Reasons Why Your App Needs an Error Monitoring System

All software applications have errors. Bugs are simply part of software development. That’s why engineering organizations need to know exactly what errors are occurring so decisions can be made around which bugs to fix.

The fastest way to identify and fix application errors is to implement error monitoring software. However, not all solutions are created equal, and the best error monitoring systems do more than error alerting. They provide insights into the stability of the software, give developers metrics for addressing technical debt and enable better decision making around building features versus fixing bugs.

The result? Happier developers who build better apps that match customer expectations.

Here are five specific reasons why engineering organizations should adopt an error monitoring system.

Error Monitoring Improves Application Health

At its core, an error monitoring system addresses the challenge to find, fix and prioritize software bugs. However, what makes an error monitoring solution stand out is stability scores, which make it easier to maintain a healthy app.

• Calculated with real-time error rates and session data, stability scores reflect the percentage of successful user interactions per release.
• They tell the real story about the impact of errors and technical debt and provide a single, unifying metric that speaks directly to the overall application health.
• Stability scores can be used across teams to set stability targets (critical stability and target stability), which in turn can determine whether the app is healthy enough for building new features, or if it’s time to fix bugs.

An Error Monitoring Solution Increases Team Productivity

With a lack of detailed information about the source and factors contributing to a bug or crash, developers must conduct research to pinpoint errors, which is a time-intensive process.

From detection to resolution, error monitoring with stability scores determines whether debugging needs to be part of the workload and which errors should be addressed first. In addition, the best error monitoring tools help prioritize business-critical and revenue-impacting errors to ensure alignment from top to bottom within an organization.

Understanding Your Application Errors Can Reduce Costs and Increase Revenue

With an error monitoring service that catches errors quickly, engineers save time, avoid critical errors and deliver crash-free applications that users want to spend money on. New features can also be rolled out on time with fewer errors, which makes developers and users happy. 

• On average, companies lose $1,500 per engineer each month over debugging.
• Knight Capital Group lost $440 million in a mere 30 minutes due to a software bug.

Technical issues are the number one reason apps get deleted. Thankfully, companies that deliver smooth app experiences benefit from loyal users who trust and spend money on their brand.

Error Monitoring Retains Development Talent and Boosts Morale

Technical debt is hard on engineers, both from a productivity and emotional perspective. Without a common language to explain its impact to other teams, developers often become frustrated at bearing the burden of technical debt, which can cause disengagement and encourage developers to leave.

Error monitoring management and stability scores bring complete visibility and cross-team agreement around software stability and prioritization of errors. Stability scores provide:

• A common vernacular for discussion between engineering, product, QA and release teams about when it’s time to fix bugs versus build new features.
• A metrics-driven reflection of the impact of technical debt on the product and clear demonstration about when it’s time to address it.
• A singular goal for application stability, which turns development and product teams into allies and increases morale across the organization.

Error Handling Impacts User Satisfaction and Usage, and Safeguards App Store Ratings

Apps play an important role in our personal and professional lives. Widespread app adoption and daily usage point to why application errors are becoming unacceptable to users, who aren’t shy about speaking up when errors do occur. 

• Ninety- six percent of mobile app users write bad reviews for sub-par apps.
• Forty-two percent of 0-star app ratings in the Google Play Store mention app stability and bugs.

The best way to ensure users have a positive customer experience is to use error monitoring to catch errors in real-time so you can respond immediately. Error monitoring provides a hope for avoiding poor app store ratings and for keeping customers satisfied.